St. Rose of Lima Parish at 2727 N.E. 54th Avenue has received permission to restore the name of Archbishop Howard School, the 103-year old parish elementary school, to its original name, St. Rose School. Founded in 1911 several blocks west of its current building, the current church opened in 1926.

Roman Catholic Archbishop Alexander Sample has given St. Rose of Lima Parish and Archbishop Howard School permission to restore the primary parish outreach ministry to its original name, St. Rose School. The pre-K-to-eighth-grade school will open its 30th year as Archbishop Howard School on September 2 and its 104th year in 2016 once again as St. Rose School.

Sisters of the Holy Child founded St. Rose School in 1913. In 1986, parishioners at St. Rose and those at neighboring St. Charles Parish determined that operating both parish schools would be fiscally impossible. The solution: merge both schools under the new name, Archbishop Howard School, with primary grades at St. Rose and middle grades at St. Charles. Several years later, all grades were moved to the St. Rose campus.

In a mid-July announcement, Rev. Matthew Libra, St. Rose parish administrator, and Karen Asbury, AHS principal for the past 20 years, spoke with parishioners after Saturday and Sunday Masses and sent notices via email and social media. Libra said it was clear to those who helped develop school recognition over the past year that there was something missing, “One consistent item that came up was our lack of recognition outside the St. Rose/AHS community. Many people don’t even know we exist; others think the AHS Hawks are from Washington or Eugene. The reports recommended making name recognition a high priority.”

Asbury said original name restoration for the school grew out of many meetings and consultations with parish and school leaders over the past year. “Restoring the school to its former name has purpose and makes sense now. Restoring the name is a clear and visible sign of unity with St. Rose Parish which we have been trying to do with our added tagline-at St. Rose.”

AHS Development Director Gina Amato Yazzolino said during the next year the school will work with families to ensure that the name restoration has the least possible financial impact. More information is available at the school web site: http://archbishophoward.org/